Ant-trap



(ModeL) M. G. MILLER.

ANT TRAP.

No. 378,709. Patented Feb, 28, .1888.

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tries MARSHALL ORITTENDEN MILLER, OF ENNIS, TEXAS.

ANT TRAP.

$PBCIPICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 378,709, dated February 28, 1888.

Application filed December 20, 1886. Serial No. 222,935. lModel.)

f0 ctZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, MARSHALL CRITTENDEN MILLER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Ennis, in the county of Ellis and State of Texas, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Ant-Traps, of which the following is a specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawing, which represents a perspective view of the same, with a portion broken away to more clearly illustrate the construction of it.

My invention relates to ant-traps; and it consists in the improved construction and combination of parts, as will be hereinafter more particularly described, and pointed out in the claim.

The device, which is preferably made of metal, consists of three parts a rectangular tube, a, a pen, I), and a box or receptacle, 0. The top of the tube at one end is slotted longitudinally and bent downward, as shown at d, and the bottom, near the other end, is provided with a transverse slot, 6. The pen bis secured to the end of the tube having the longitudinal slot, so that a portion of one side piece of the pen forms an end for the tube, while the other side piece is cut away, so as to fit over the tube and be secured to it, the end of the tube thus forming one end of the pen and the slot extending from the one side piece to the other. The upper edges of the pen, and also of the receptacle, are bent inward, as shown at f, to prevent the escape of the ants from the pen, except through the tube a, and from the receptacle after they have fallen into it. The end of the tube having the transverse slot is placed over the top of the receptacle, so that the ants will fall into it without the possibility of their getting out of the tube after once -getting into it, except by falling into the receptacle.

The ants which this trap is designed to catch are very poisonous to man and destructive of vegetation and go in colonies, like bees. They burrow in the ground, and the dirt which they carry out to form their home they deposit in a heap, which forms what are known as anthills. In setting the trap the pen is placed over, or, rather, around, one of these hills, and enough dirt is placed in the end to which the tube is secured to enable the ants to run out of the pen onto thetop of the tube. As soon as they get onto the inclined portion of the top of the tube, they slide down through the slot into the hollow of the tube, from which they can only escape by passing out at the other end into the receptacle. The bent or flared edges of the top of the receptacle prevent their escape until they are removed or killed.

The trap can be made of any suitable size, and can be made of any desired material, although I prefer to make them of tin, as they can thus be made very light and cheap.

Having thus described my invention, I claim In an ant-trap, the combination of a tube having a longitudinal slot in its top at one end and a transverse slot in the bottom near the other end, the top of the tube on each side of the longitudinal slot being bent downward, a pen secured to the end of the tube having the longitudinal slot, a portion of one side piece of the pen forming an end for the tube and the otherside piece beingcut away and secured to the tube, and a receptacle under the end of the tube having the transverse slot, the upper 7 edges of the pen and of the receptacle being bent or flared inward.

UARSHALL CRITTENDEN MILLER.

\Vi tn esses:

O. T. IIOGAN, 1*]. D. P. SAUNDERS. 

